Handguns have grown increasingly more powerful over the years. As caliber size increases, so does the recoil of the firearm. Recoil is the rearward momentum generated by a firearm upon firing. Large caliber firearms generally create a substantial recoil impulse upon firing, which may cause the weapon to be forced upward due to an imbalance of forces. Unless properly adjusted for by the user, the recoil of a firearm may cause the user to fire inaccurately and miss the intended target. This is especially the case when firing in a fully automatic mode, as in a machine pistol.
This problem is a result of physics. The mass and velocity of a projectile must exert an equal and opposite reaction in the system behind it. This relationship is defined as “free recoil” in the firearm industry. Free recoil, in turn, results in muzzle rise. Muzzle rise is defined as the immediate, post-fire angular velocity of the firearm about its center of force. The center of force is determined by both the user's hand pressure across the grip and the handgun's own center of mass.
For the foregoing reasons, efforts have been made over the years to reduce the amount of recoil generated by a firearm. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 6,742,297 to Lakatos discloses a firearm recoil reduction method. The method employs a spring, a trigger housing and a barrel. Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 4,388,855 to Sokolovsky discloses a firearm pneumatic slide decelerator assembly. The assembly includes a recoil spring in proximity to a trigger housing. U.S. Pat. No. 5,069,110 to Menck discloses an impact buffering recoil mechanism. The mechanism includes a recoil spring in proximity to a trigger housing.
Although each of these inventions achieves its own individual objective, none of the background art relates to a mechanism for lessening recoil by lowering a firearm's center of mass. The firearm configuration described herein is aimed at overcoming these and other shortcomings noted in the background art.